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Long Drive Puts NASA Mars Rover Near Planned Waypoint

By Guest PostSeptember 11, 2013Scienceenvironmental conditions, exposed bedrock, glenelg area, hazard avoidance system, jeff biesiadecki, john grotzinger, mars reconnaissance orbiter, mount sharp, nasa mars rover, panorama point, rover planner, yellowknife bay

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity now has a view of a patch of exposed bedrock scientists selected for a few days of close-up study, the first such study since the rover began its long trek to Mount Sharp two months ago.

Curiosity reached the crest of a rise informally called “Panorama Point.” From Panorama Point, the rover took photographs of a pale-toned outcrop area that the team chose earlier as “Waypoint 1” on the basis of imagery from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. (more…)

Curiosity Mars Rover Sees Trend in Water Presence

By Guest PostMarch 20, 2013Sciencealuminum, apxs, arizona state university, basalt like proportions, calibration target, curiosity mars rover, dan, drilled rock, evidence, hydrated minerals, iron, iron bearing rocks, jim bell, knorr rock, magnesium, mars, mast camera, mastcam, maxim litvak, melissa rice, mudstone rock, NASA, silicon, trend, veins, water bearing minerals, water presence, yellowknife bay

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has seen evidence of water-bearing minerals in rocks near where it had already found clay minerals inside a drilled rock.

Last week, the rover’s science team announced that analysis of powder from a drilled mudstone rock on Mars indicates past environmental conditions that were favorable for microbial life. Additional findings presented on March 18 at a news briefing at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas, suggest those conditions extended beyond the site of the drilling. (more…)

Panorama from NASA Mars Rover Shows Mount Sharp

By Guest PostMarch 17, 2013Scienceenvironmental history, evidence, gale crater, mars, mars rover curiosity, martian day, mast camera, mastcam, microbial life, mount sharp, NASA, past environment, san diego, united states, yellowknife bay

PASADENA, Calif. — Rising above the present location of NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity, higher than any mountain in the 48 contiguous states of the United States, Mount Sharp is featured in new imagery from the rover.

A pair of mosaics assembled from dozens of telephoto images shows Mount Sharp in dramatic detail. The component images were taken by the 100-millimeter-focal-length telephoto lens camera mounted on the right side of Curiosity’s remote sensing mast, during the 45th Martian day of the rover’s mission on Mars (Sept. 20, 2012). (more…)

NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars

By Guest PostMarch 12, 2013Scienceancient life, ancient wet environment, bedrock, calcium sulfate, carbon, chemical energy source, chemical ingredients, chemin, chlorinated forms, condition, david blake, gale crater, hydrogen, instruments, john grotzinger, john klein, life, living microbes, mars, mars exploration program, methane, michael meyer, micro-organisms, mildly alkaline, mudstone, nasa rover, neutral, nitrogen, oxygen, paul mahaffy, phosphorus, powder, presence, red planet, rocknest, sam, soil, stream bed, sulfur, yellowknife bay

PASADENA, Calif. –– An analysis of a rock sample collected by NASA’s Curiosity rover shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.

Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon — some of the key chemical ingredients for life — in the powder Curiosity drilled out of a sedimentary rock near an ancient stream bed in Gale Crater on the Red Planet last month.

“A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “From what we know now, the answer is yes.” (more…)

NASA Mars Rover Preparing to Drill into First Martian Rock

By Guest PostJanuary 16, 2013Scienceaileen yingst, bassinite, bradbury landing, calcium, california institute, camera, chemcam, chemical composition, concretions, curiosity, drill hardware, drilling, drilling target, drt, dust removal tool, Environment, evidence, flat rock, fractures, france, gale crater, gillespie lake rock, gypsum, hydrated calcium sulfate, hydrogen, imager, internet buzz, jet propulsion laboratory, john grotzinger, john klein, laser pulsing chemistry, level, mahli, mars, mars hand lens, mars rover curiosity, mars science laboratory, martian flower, martian material, mast camera, mastcam, microbial life, mineral, mission, nantes, NASA, nicolas mangold, pale veins, pasadena, red planet, richard cook, rock, samples, sedimentary rocks, shaler unit, shallow depression, sheepbed outcrop, stream flow, sulfur, Technology, terrain, tucson, veins, wet environment, wet history, yellowknife bay

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is driving toward a flat rock with pale veins that may hold clues to a wet history on the Red Planet. If the rock meets rover engineers’ approval when Curiosity rolls up to it in coming days, it will become the first to be drilled for a sample during the Mars Science Laboratory mission.

The size of a car, Curiosity is inside Mars’ Gale Crater investigating whether the planet ever offered an environment favorable for microbial life. Curiosity landed in the crater five months ago to begin its two-year prime mission. (more…)

Curiosity Rover Explores ‘Yellowknife Bay’

By Guest PostJanuary 6, 2013Sciencecuriosity, darker rock cutting, gale crater, habitable environment, john grotzinger, jpl, mars rover, martian day, microbe, NASA, red planet, richard cook, shallow depression, sinuous rock feature, snake river, sol, yellowknife bay

Mars Science Laboratory Mission Status Report

PASADENA, Calif. – After imaging during the holidays, NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity resumed driving Jan. 3 and pulled within arm’s reach of a sinuous rock feature called “Snake River.”

Snake River is a thin curving line of darker rock cutting through flatter rocks and jutting above sand. Curiosity’s science team plans to get a closer look at it before proceeding to other nearby rocks. (more…)

Curiosity Rover Nearing Yellowknife Bay

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2012Sciencecalculation, camera, chemcam, chemistry, curiosity, curiosity traverse map, glenelg area, jet propulsion laboratory, layered martian outcrop, mars, mars rover, mast camera, mastcam, mount sharp, NASA, navcam, navigation camera, outcrop, pasadena, point lake, rick welch, rock composition, sam, sample analysis, science laboratory mission, shaler, sol 123, status report, yellowknife bay

Mars Science Laboratory Mission Status Report

PASADENA, Calif. –– The NASA Mars rover Curiosity drove 63 feet (19 meters) northeastward early Monday, Dec. 10, approaching a step down into a slightly lower area called “Yellowknife Bay,” where researchers intend to choose a rock to drill.

The drive was Curiosity’s fourth consecutive driving day since leaving a site near an outcrop called “Point Lake,” where it arrived last month. These drives totaled 260 feet (79 meters) and brought the mission’s total odometry to 0.37 mile (598 meters). (more…)

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Long Drive Puts NASA Mars Rover Near Planned Waypoint

Curiosity Mars Rover Sees Trend in Water Presence

Panorama from NASA Mars Rover Shows Mount Sharp

NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars

NASA Mars Rover Preparing to Drill into First Martian Rock

Curiosity Rover Explores ‘Yellowknife Bay’

Curiosity Rover Nearing Yellowknife Bay